Faculty Book: Marc Edelman

Richard Sandbrook, Marc Edelman, Patrick Heller, and Judith Teichman

Social Democracy in the Global Periphery: Origins, Challenges, Prospects (Cambridge University Press, 2007)

In this work, the authors focus on social-democratic regimes in the developing world that have, to varying degrees, reconciled the need of achieving growth through globalized markets with extensions of political, social and economic rights. The book shows that opportunities exist to achieve significant social progress, despite a global economic order that favors core industrial countries. Their findings derive from a comparative analysis of four exemplary cases: Kerala (India), Costa Rica, Mauritius and Chile (since 1990). Though unusual, the social and political conditions from which these developing-world social democracies arose are not unique; indeed, pragmatic and proactive social-democratic movements helped create these favorable conditions. The four exemplars have preserved or even improved their social achievements since neoliberalism emerged as hegemonic in the 1980s. Marc Edelman is a professor of anthropology at Hunter College and the Graduate Center.